STRAY DOE NURSED BY HOSPITAL

As the sun rose and motorists sped by on their way to work, she was found injured and in shock along the road, with her home in the Everglades near but beyond her reach.

But with the help of a lot of caring people, she soon will return home.

This victim of a hit-and-run accident, a three-year-old deer that may be pregnant, is resting comfortably at a Coral Springs animal hospital, recuperating from a two-hour operation on Wednesday to repair a broken jaw.

"When she was first brought in, she was in shock," said Dr. Bill Sammons, veterinarian at Academy Animal Hospital. "But now I think she knows that she's safe."

Apparently curiosity led the four-foot-tall, 100-pound deer astray. Broward sheriff's officers found the deer early Wednesday on U.S. 27 at Griffin Road, lying in shock on the grass alongside the road, after a passing motorist called them.

"Her jaw was turned out almost 90 degrees," said Deputy Martin Woodside. "Apparently she was hit head on by a car that was probably going in excess of 55 miles per hour. It's amazing she lived."

Woodside and Deputy Joe Holda comforted the scared animal until Mitchell Bridges, owner of nearby Everglades Holiday Park, which cares for injured wild animals, arrived to transport the deer to the hospital.

Sammons said the doe's wide stomach may indicate she is pregnant, but after all she has been through, he decided to hold off on further X-rays until she is more rested.

The deer rests quietly upon a blue blanket in a pen at the hospital, her mouth still tender and swollen from the operation Sammons and Dr. Peter Adams performed to put two 7-inch pins in her lower jaw.

Her big brown eyes widen at the strange antiseptic surroundings, and her ears perk up at the unfamiliar sounds of barking dogs and meowing cats.

She has been at the hospital only two days, but as the hospital's first resident deer, she's already become a favorite.

Animal technicians sneak peeks at her. One technician even brought a blender from her home in Boca Raton to help prepare the alfalfa mush the deer is being fed.

"Being able to help in a situation like this is one of those things that makes you feel good," said Brandi Green, an animal technician. "We just want people to know that if they accidentally hit an animal or see one that's injured, not to just leave them. A lot of times they can be helped and fixed back up."

Sammons said that in a few days the deer would be transferred to Everglades Holiday Park to recuperate for about four months.

Eventually the deer will be released back into the Everglades. The pins will remain in her jaw, but she will be able to survive on her own as before, he said.

Doctors and technicians at the hospital are trying not to get too attached to her, but it's difficult, they said. Many of them said they've found themselves rereading Bambi lately.

"We wanted to nickname her Bambi," said Sammons. "But then we found out Bambi was a boy. Then we decided to call her after Bambi's mother, but we found out Bambi's mother had no name. We're not sure what we'll call her, but we'll think up something original."